The Emperor of Gladness

A Novel

By: Ocean Vuong

Narrated by: James Aaron Oh

The instant New York Times bestseller • Oprah’s Book Club Pick • Named a Best Book of 2025 by TIME, The New Yorker, Harper's Bazaar, USA Today, NPR, People, Christian Science Monitor, Scientific American, and Kirkus Reviews • A 2026 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence finalist

“Stunning . . . A heartfelt and powerful examination of those living on the fringes of society, and the unique challenges they face to survive and thrive.” —Oprah Winfrey

Ocean Vuong returns with a bighearted novel about chosen family, unexpected friendship, and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive

The hardest thing in the world is to live only once…

One late summer evening in the post-industrial town of East Gladness, Connecticut, nineteen-year-old Hai stands on the edge of a bridge in pelting rain, ready to jump, when he hears someone shout across the river. The voice belongs to Grazina, an elderly widow succumbing to dementia, who convinces him to take another path. Bereft and out of options, he quickly becomes her caretaker. Over the course of the year, the unlikely pair develops a life-altering bond, one built on empathy, spiritual reckoning, and heartbreak, with the power to transform Hai’s relationship to himself, his family, and a community on the brink.

Following the cycles of history, memory, and time, The Emperor of Gladness shows the profound ways in which love, labor, and loneliness form the bedrock of American life. At its heart is a brave epic about what it means to exist on the fringes of society and to reckon with the wounds that haunt our collective soul. Hallmarks of Ocean Vuong’s writing—formal innovation, syntactic dexterity, and the ability to twin grit with grace through tenderness—are on full display in this story of loss, hope, and how far we would go to possess one of life’s most fleeting mercies: a second chance.

Compelling characters, hopeful and sad

Liked the specificity of details around the run down town and a characters Alzheimer’s progression

I love this book.

Ocean Vuong honors people who survive hard lives and remain kind-hearted by making them the focus of The Emperor of Gladness. The writing is often beautiful. Unusual for me, I cried several times while reading this novel because I grew to care deeply for the characters. I recommend that you read this book.

Best book I’ve read in awhile

I love the characters ❤️ their conversations would have me laughing out loud. Yet, I would also get choked up because the story deals with some very hard situations. This is worthy of reading again. MUST READ!

Not sure how I feel about it…

I’m still not sure how I feel about this book. I loved the characters, but I think I wanted more resolution for them. With that being said, I think this book will stay with me and I will keep thinking about it for a long time.

Character Driven Narrative

This was my favorite book of the year thus far. Ocean Vuong writes the most beautiful prose and displays the truest expressions of humanity in his characters. I am a fan of an observant and reflective narrator.